Unless we were fortunate enough to grow up in an atmosphere where we regularly confronted the ideas involved, those of us who are conscious of the concept of white privilege are so afraid of unknowingly exercising it that we're paralyzed.
See, this is really why i posted the above - because i didn't grow up in an atmosphere where I regularly confronted ideas of race. And I think the only way to reduce the paralysis you're talking about is to talk about race, remind ourselves what the issues are, and engage again in the conversation. It doesn't have to be all at once, it's not always going to be positive, but the only way to make change, the only way one can change - for me - is to rexamine ideas. To remind myself that there is a racial situation in this state/country/city/school/world that I don't experience in the same way as people of color do. To remove some of my fear by trying to research, informing myself about the problem, and occasionally engaging with rabid people from both perspectives. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the only way to stop the rabid disenfranchising is to become informed of why people felt the need to take away your power in the first place (not that i'm saying you're not aware, because i'm pretty sure you are), but then being able to respond to them that if they want to change the world they have to engage in discussion with more than just people of color - they have to change the minds of those hegemony. Disenfranchising white people isn't the way to do it, and I don't think any of the people I linked to above would maintain that it was.
thank you for commenting btw. you're one of three people on the flist who didn't read that and go "oh hell no, i'm not touching that with a ten foot pole" and i really really really appreciate that.
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Date: 2007-01-06 04:01 am (UTC)See, this is really why i posted the above - because i didn't grow up in an atmosphere where I regularly confronted ideas of race. And I think the only way to reduce the paralysis you're talking about is to talk about race, remind ourselves what the issues are, and engage again in the conversation. It doesn't have to be all at once, it's not always going to be positive, but the only way to make change, the only way one can change - for me - is to rexamine ideas. To remind myself that there is a racial situation in this state/country/city/school/world that I don't experience in the same way as people of color do. To remove some of my fear by trying to research, informing myself about the problem, and occasionally engaging with rabid people from both perspectives. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the only way to stop the rabid disenfranchising is to become informed of why people felt the need to take away your power in the first place (not that i'm saying you're not aware, because i'm pretty sure you are), but then being able to respond to them that if they want to change the world they have to engage in discussion with more than just people of color - they have to change the minds of those hegemony. Disenfranchising white people isn't the way to do it, and I don't think any of the people I linked to above would maintain that it was.
thank you for commenting btw. you're one of three people on the flist who didn't read that and go "oh hell no, i'm not touching that with a ten foot pole" and i really really really appreciate that.